Chilliwack Lions Club Music and Dance Festival prepares for this year’s final show

It’s been another year for the record books as the 71st annual Chilliwack Lions Club Music and Dance Festival wraps up on Apr. 7, with its Music Honours performance.

This year’s Festival brought in thousands of performers aged six to 21 from around the southern end of the province, and of those, nine dancers, 14 musicians, and one choir will be heading to Provicinals in Victoria to compete against artists from across British Columbia.

Also heading to the provincial capital to check out the competition will be at least five merited participants, including 10-year-old Jonah Kassel who received an exceptional surprise during this year’s Festival.

Although it doesn’t usually happen, this year a string adjudicator, Garth Williams, weighed and measured each performer to determine the who was “most deserving, promising, and talented young violinist,” and his sights came to rest on young Kassel, who he gifted a full-sized refurbished violin.

Williams said the smile Kassel gave him, and the joy he saw in his eyes and those of his parents made the gift

However, Festival Registrar Laurie Hirschman says getting Kassel and his peers to the provincial isn’t cheap, which is where the Honours performances come in.

“This is the very last (performance),” said Hirschman. “All profit from this concert goes to the musical representatives and will be used towards their travel and accommodation expenses to and from Victoria.

“Every little bit helps as these expenses are personal ones and not Festival ones,” she continued.

The Music Honours performance will be hosted at 7:00 p.m. at the Broadway Church on Saturday, Apr. 7. Tickets are$10 each or $25 for a family of four, and are available at King’s Music in Chilliwack or by reserving at 604-858-3147 or hirschmanhouse@telus.net.